We talk with our clients about return on investment relative to their use of the Internet often. ROI can take on many forms, ranging from direct and indirect revenue, to a growing audience, brand recognition, and the baseline analysis that search engine optimization is designed to generate.
Websites can be complex monsters, especially if you work diligently to ensure all of the material you publish is working for you. Regardless of the tactics used, the process for use can greatly affect the performance and success of your marketing outreach. And frankly, we believe a lot of the steps to take should remain basic. It may not feel that way at first, but as you grow your site and related content, you’ll see specific results.
Text Works
Websites that continue to rely on Flash, Silverlight, or Javascript menus may be powerful and nice to look at. However, websites that use text menus achieve stronger SEO results and have fewer indexation problems. Even if you’re told that various search engines now understand Flash, they all understand text better. The other benefit is that with text menus, you’ll likely have better and more accurate sitelinks from your web environment. That’s pretty important if you’re working to build a brand or to create a working clientele.
Use Anchor Text and Keywords Together
Too many people focus on the HOME page relative to SEO, and forget about internal pages completely. In many cases, internal pages are more important than the HOME or LANDING page. Sure, people will find your website via Google or whatever engine, but once they’re at the site, how well are your internal pages working?
Use targeted keywords and add them in the anchor text of internal links. That will improve the rankings of your internal pages relative to the terms used. I’d suggest going further than that. Add multiple variations of the same keyword and get even better results, while also avoiding spam and bans. But don’t overdo it. Use the right amount of keywords, links and overall content. If you just jam the internal links with keywords, you’re likely to trigger a Google Spam signal and either undo all of your SEO efforts, or worse, get banned.
Limit Effort on Pages With Limited Value
Most sites have multiple types of pages. These might include product pages, eCommerce, support, etc. And then, separately, there are pages that really don’t have any influence or impact on the website or the visitors you want to attract. These pages include privacy pages, contact forms, terms of use, etc. You may wish to create a categorization of all pages, and implement them accordingly.
Cross-link Important Pages
Once you’ve categorized pages, cross link the important pages in your website, including those that appear on subtrees or utilize different levels or paths. This can be done by adding links inside the main text of the page or by showing recommendations to the users on a separate part. In this way the search engines are able to find easier the quality content of your website and the users will stay for longer on your website, you will increase your average page views and you will reduce your bounce rate.
Create Direct Links for Important Pages
In larger sites, the majority of PageRank will be associated with those pages closest (linkwise) to the HOME or LANDING page. Use overlapping Link Hierarchy – or add direct links from the HOME page to the most important internal pages. By doing so, you increase the PageRank of your “best seller” pages without affecting the main structure of your website.
Ensure Important Links are at the Top of the Page
Links that are placed on footers flow reduced PageRank and have reduced value than those placed in headers. Google as one example has make it clear that they evaluate editorial value of each lnk by using several signals such as the position on the page. Avoid using templates or designs that include the main menu on the bottom of the page.
These are just a few concepts to think about when building SEO content for your website. We’ll address more of this in the coming weeks and months.